Odyssey 8.443 · Book 8, lines 443–445
Tie the chest shut
Read the full text in our reader
Arete — αὐτὸς νῦν ἴδε πῶμα, θοῶς δʼ ἐπὶ δεσμὸν ἴηλον, μή τίς τοι καθʼ ὁδὸν δηλήσεται, ὁππότʼ ἂν αὖτε εὕδῃσθα γλυκὺν ὕπνον ἰὼν ἐν νηὶ μελαίνῃ.
See to the lid yourself now, and swiftly cast a knot upon it, lest anyone do you harm along the way, when once again you sleep sweet sleep as you travel in the black ship.
Word by word
The setting
Arete has packed the guest's treasure into a chest. She now gives him a word of caution for the voyage.
A note on this passage
Arete tells the stranger to see to the lid himself and tie a knot on the chest, so that no one can rob him on the crossing while he sleeps in the black ship.
The warning is worldly and faintly dark. Even a convoy of near-magical sailors is no guarantee against theft, and a sleeping man is an easy mark. Under the lavish send-off runs the ordinary suspicion of the road — and a hint that Odysseus, for all this honor, will still need to keep his guard up among strangers.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 8.443 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 8.443 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/8.443/